Acts 19:21   After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” (NIV)

Acts 21:4   And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.  (KJV)

Sometimes in life we have to go East to go West.  This is for everyone who has had life throw you a curve and send you in the opposite direction of your goal.  This is for everyone who feels called to one thing but feels strangely drawn to an opportunity that seems incongruent with that calling.

In Acts 19 the Apostle Paul said, “I must visit Rome,” then in Acts 21 we see the great Apostle determined to go to Jerusalem.  What’s odd about this, is that Rome was west of Macedonia and Jerusalem was east of Macedonia. So why was Paul determined to Go to Jerusalem?  Well, we don’t entirely know why Paul wanted to go to Jerusalem. It’s hard for me to believe that he had actually calculated that he would be arrested in Jerusalem by the Jewish and Roman authorities and his arrest would not only put him on a ship to Rome but would also place him in a house in Rome where he would be free to share the good news from the capital of the world.

So whether the Apostle Paul had done the complex mental gymnastics that setting oneself up for arrest in Jerusalem, so he could appeal to Caesar and therefore get shipped to Rome at the state’s expense or not is irrelevant really.  All of us at times go East to go West. We get diagnosed with cancer, the company we’ve worked at for the past fifteen years closes, our closest friends move away. We can be thrown into confusion; thinking, this is not my destination, or we can have confidence that the sovereign Lord we serve sometimes uses Jerusalem to take us to Rome.  God loves to makes us go East, so we can go West.

The Great British historian Tom Holland, who by the way is an atheist, believes the writings of Paul created the foundation of Western Civilization.  I agree with him, but he would have never had global influence had he not preached the Gospel in Rome. All roads lead to Rome, but God in his infinite wisdom wasted a thousand travel miles to get his servant Paul to the center of global influence.

I think God keeps Satan, our adversary, confused.  Consider this great scripture passage. 1 Corinthians 2:6,7 We speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  

Talk about going East to go West…   Logic says, recruit an army, equip them, train them, challenge the authority of Rome, win a decisive battle, then set your Kingdom up on the earth.  The Devil and the dark forces would have understood this and I am sure would have responded with force, but a crucifixion? That’s no way to for a conquering Kingdom to establish his rule on earth!  But is it? It is, if you are a supernatural God for whom direction doesn’t determine destination. So Apostle Paul goes to Jerusalem and because the message of Jesus as king upset the delicate balance between the Jews and the Romans, he gets shipped off to Rome for trial.  His big catastrophe put him smack dab in the center of the will of God.

I often think about how I never won some inner battles with anxiety and frustration until I went through three years of cancer treatment.  I feel so much less vulnerable to discouragement and discontent than before. My favorite quip is, “I wouldn’t take a million dollars for this experience but I wouldn’t give you fifteen cents to do it again.”   In other words it was so hard, I would never choose it, but I have been so blessed by it I can be grateful for it. I went East to go West.

So let’s start expecting the unexpected.  Let’s get better at yielding to the idea that disappointments are Divine appointments.